Protest in Rome over refugees

Arrival of migrants triggers clash between far-right protestors and police.

There were violent scenes between demonstrators and police in north Rome after a bus carrying 19 refugees arrived at a migrant reception centre on the morning of 17 July.

The protestors, many of them members of the neo-fascist organisation CasaPound, attempted to block the police-escorted bus from gaining access to the centre in the north Rome suburb of Casale S. Nicola.

The demonstrators included local residents, among them women and elderly people, who chanted anti-immigrant slogans and pelted the bus and police with bottles and other missiles such as chairs.

The far-right protesters, wearing motorcycle helmets, fought pitched battles with riot police, injuring four, and set fire to rubbish and bales of hay nearby. The bus finally entered the compound of the centre – a former school located between Via Braccianese and La Storta – at around 14.00.

The incident occurred just hours after similar violent demonstrations against refugees took place in Treviso in northern Italy.

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